Sri Lanka faced criticism yesterday for extending a state of emergency giving sweeping powers to security forces to detain suspects ahead of parliamentary elections in April.
A private poll-monitoring body, the People’s Action for Free and Fair Elections, said continuation of emergency rule could undermine the vote scheduled to be held after last month’s presidential election, won by Mahinda Rajapakse.
“The use of emergency laws could seriously affect the campaign and there is no guarantee that the government will not use it against political opponents,” said the group’s executive director, Rohana Hettiarachchi.
On Friday, Sri Lanka’s parliament voted heavily in favor of extending the state of emergency for one month despite international calls to revert to normal laws.
The extension must be approved by parliament every month.
“The emergency is needed because enemies of the state are trying to regroup and unite,” Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake told parliament.
Emergency rule allows suspects to be kept in custody for prolonged periods without trial.
Official sources said the national assembly could be dissolved next week, two months before its six-year term ends in the middle of April, and elections scheduled for early April.
The New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) has been pressing for the emergency laws to be lifted and a halt to violence targeting opponents of the government.
“We fear that this [violence targeting the opposition] is just the beginning of a campaign to get rid of critical voices before the parliamentary elections,” HRW director Brad Adams said in a statement last week.
“Sri Lanka’s friends should tell the government that any crackdown on civil society will harm future relations,” it said.
Dozens of opposition workers have been held under emergency laws.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of